“Need Help Badly With A Cell Phone Ticket That I Am Guilty Of But Trying To Improve My Chances Of Minimizing The Damage..”

I pressed the home button on my iphone at a red light and a cop happened to see me and pulled me over.

The ticket for checking a cell phone at a red light was for $615. However, the officer said:

"I'm giving you a second ticket for "Start from stopped position - not in safety" for $110, and essentially it's the same thing as the offence as the first ticket. I can't tell you what to do legally but if I were you I would strongly look at option 2. I will be there in court which would be 4-5 months from now, but at least if they see both tickets for the same thing you can talk to the prosecutor and this can turn into a firm reminder as oppose to a ton of money. I know this is your first offence and we all have phones and it's tough to stay off them but if you catch my drift here, you may want to look to take option 2"

Where I live in Richmond Hill I went to the court office today and there is no early resolution option there is simply a "plea guilty and talk to a Justice of Peace" which I guess means you pay a lesser fine but still get convicted.

So I was confused as I was (foolishly) hoping since the officer gave me a second ticket (start from stopped position) for the same offence as a way for them to lessen the charge of the first cell phone ticket and then have me plea to the cheaper second one for a guilty plea. He seemed like he was trying to do me a solid, but maybe the solid was taking option #2 for a lesser fine and still get the suspension.

The lady at the desk as I got called in at the court office was even saying I should take option 3 which is to go to court, (she said never plead guilty until you have to) as if I took the second option I'd be convicted immediately and my license would instantly be suspended for 3 days.

I hope this post makes sense, but did I do a mistake in taking the court/trial option? The cop seemed very helpful, so is it worth trying to get a hold of him from the local police station and get some clarification? I know he can't advice me legally but I feel like he was giving me the second ticket to help me out with the first as he admitted himself that it was for the same thing for both tickets essentially. What I failed to realize (based on research) is that they are so tough on cell phone tickets now that they won't even entertain you pleading to a lesser charge it seems. I feel like most paralegals won't touch this either.